


True Love's Kiss

by wannabe_someone



Category: Original Work
Genre: Multi, this was something i submitted to a magazine and i didn't get in so here its for yall, tw for a lot of mentioned aphobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:22:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29737980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wannabe_someone/pseuds/wannabe_someone
Summary: She was going to die alone, wasn’t she? She’d already been abandoned. She already wasn’t enough for her. Maybe someone would settle for her, but it would never be love. Not really.The black ring she wore clinked merrily, stuck in a gap between the plates of her middle finger.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Original Female Character/Original Male Character, Original Female Character/Original Nonbinary Character





	True Love's Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> again. the plot is based on a fuck ton of aphobia, so be careful  
> and htis is highkey based on mhy own fears soooo

The thing that hurt most about being a Beast wasn’t the change itself. It was the rejection. She had been rescued, sure, but who would want to be around her? She buried her head in her hands, then leapt back at the feel of the plates that covered her hands, not wanting anyone to see her cry. If she could even cry anymore.

She was going to die alone, wasn’t she? She’d already been abandoned. She already wasn’t enough for her. Maybe someone would settle for her, but it would never be love. Not really.

The black ring she wore clinked merrily, stuck in a gap between the plates of her middle finger.

Fuck. She thought she’d left that self hatred behind ages ago. 

The door creaked open and she pulled her jacket around her more firmly. To her new skin, everything was cold. Too cold.

A person stepped in, holding out a small bundle of clothes. “Here.”

Lea’s head swiveled, turning more than 90 degrees to stare at the stranger. “They’re my wife’s. I thought that they’d fit you.”

She waited until the door closed to make her way across the rooms, grabbing the pile. The clothes did fit, even if they were made for someone slightly taller. A few minutes later, the same person appeared, knocking at the door. She stood up slowly, feeling a sense of dread settle over her. “My wife wants to talk to you… if that’s okay.”

“It’s fine.” Lea coughed, trying to deal with how croaky her voice sounded. Nothing happened. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

She leaned her head against the door, wishing she could feel the cool metal against her skin. Instead, she was stuck with scales, small gaps only existing around the joint. It seemed like her girlfriend’s sense of humor. Sticking the heartless monster with impenetrable armor.

Lea clenched her fist tighter. Ally was her ex. Not her girlfriend. She’d lost her rights to that word the minute the fateful words escaped her lips. Her fingernails dug in tighter and tighter, but did nothing.

She bit her lip to keep the hysterical laughter from escaping. That asshole had made it so that she couldn’t feel anything. She turned around, pacing the room, feeling the tears start to prick at the corners of her eyes. She walked faster and faster, grabbing at her clothing, scratching at her legs, her hands, looking for any part of her body that could still feel.

She looked down at her fist, down at the single place that was still untouched. The black band still sat there, twinkling. Lea tugged at it, wanting it off, but the scales had grown around it. There was no getting rid of that mark.

“Fuck!”

She dropped her head in her hands, collapsing against the wall. “Fuck.”

One of Lea’s rescuers rushed in and sat next to her, curling an arm around her shoulders. Lea tried to imagine that she could feel their warmth through her scales.

Eventually, she let the pair of people lead her into the ship’s small dining area. One of them handed her a cup of coffee and she turned it around and around in her hands, not drinking any of it. One of the people was sitting in front of her. 

Their wife handed them a cup of coffee, placing a kiss on their cheek, gently adjusting their hijab. Something in Lea’s heart seemed to twist. She’d always wanted that. And that future was starting to seem less and less likely.

She reached into a pocket and pulled out her com, placing the clamshell on the table. The screen lit up for a second before starting to charge.

The room was quiet, and Lea just sat there, listening to the quiet hum of the engine. “Thank you,” she whispered.

The taller one was the first to respond. “We’d do it for anyone. I’m Rian. She/they. And right next to me is my lovely wife.”

The other person swatted at their wife’s arm. “Your lovely wife can introduce herself.” She extended a hand towards Lea, grasping it firmly, seemingly not put off by the scales. “Shams. She/her. Captain of this ship.”

“Lea. She/her.” She paused, staring at the pair across from her. “How do I know I can trust you?”

It sounded more like a statement than a question.

Her com lit up, a message from one Rian Xavier. Two complete net profiles and a lot of paperwork for the Seattle, as well as a map, showing their exact coordinates. She glanced at it, realizing that she was closer to Earth than she thought.

“If you feel like talking about it, it would be helpful for us to know what happened.”

Shams’s tone was level. Carefully controlled. Lea found it strangely comforting. She wasn’t asking for any more information than was necessary. 

“My-” Lea coughed, stumbling over the words. “My ex-girlfriend cursed me. Only true love…”

She looked at her lap, pressing her fingertips together. She’d already cried enough today. She didn’t want to cry more.

Across from her, Rian took a deep breath. “When?”

There was no stopping the tears now. “A few hours before you found me, I think.”

Lea grabbed her com and left the room to send a message to her parents. Nobody stopped her.

Rian, Shams, and her parents organized a meeting on a station that orbited Earth. Lea had borrowed a hooded jacket from Rian, thankful that it was too big. Before they left for the restaurant, she pulled the hood up, letting it hide her face. She wasn’t ready to deal with the stares.

Shams had reserved a corner booth, and Lea slid in, taking the far corner, hiding her face. Her parents weren’t there yet, and she almost let out a sigh of relief before realizing that it gave her more time to think about how they would react. 

It only took a few seconds before her parents showed up, and Lea patted the seats next to her, not moving from her spot, hiding her fingers in the oversized jacket. She accepted her parents hugs, praying that none of them would feel the scales hidden under the thick fleece.

A bot came around and took her parents orders. Lea clenched and unclenched her fists, feeling the nervousness rise in her stomach. In her new body, the adrenaline almost made it seem like she was falling. She stared straight ahead, observing the minute changes in the hue of the lights.

“What happened, Lee?”

Lea glanced at her dad’s face, seeing how afraid he was. She took a deep breath and pushed back the hood of the jacket.

The booth was silent as the bot came back, handing her parents their drinks, its automated voice asking for meal orders. For once, Lea ordered smoothly. “I’d like a burger with bacon. Medium rare.” 

Ally hated beef and raw meat. It felt nice to eat it just to spite her.

“I’m not going back to Earth,” Lea announced. “I- I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I can’t go back.”

Her parents nodded in understanding.

“There are grounds for litigation.” Shams picked up her drink and sipped from it. “I can put you in touch with a few lawyers. And curse breaking isn’t my wife’s specialty, but we know of several people.”

Lea focused on tearing her napkin into shreds. All of it would be put in the recycler anyway. She had seen Ally do several spells and she didn’t think most people would have a chance at undoing her work.

“Ally is very thorough,” Lea had barely raised her voice, but they were hanging onto her every word. “She said it would be reversed by true love. I think… I think that’s the only option.”

She grabbed a napkin and started to dab at her eyes. Rian watched, passing her another napkin. “If you’re in school, I think a curse is a good reason for a leave of absence. And if you’re looking for a job, we’d be willing to hire you.”

Lea looked down, still expecting to blush. “Thank you. That means a lot. It’s mostly deliveries, right?”

Rian shrugged. “In general. It changes depending on who’s in the crew. Especially since Ari’s using this as an apprenticeship thing, it’ll be pretty lowkey at first. And we’re both willing to show you the basics of what we do.”

Lea was silent, thinking over her options. What Rian and Shams were offering seemed kind of perfect. A new start.

Her mom reached over, grabbing her daughter’s hand. “Whatever you do, we’ll support your decision.”

“I don’t know what I want to do. I think… I don’t want it to go to court. I want Ally to pay, but I don’t want it to go to court.” Lea turned around, looking at everyone’s reaction. “And I think I might take that job, just… It’ll be better for me if I stay away.”

Her dad nodded. “You’ll call at least once a week?”

Lea smiled. “You’ll probably get several panicked texts a day.”

She wasn’t surprised that her parents were so relaxed about this, but she was an adult, legally. What she did, where she went, it was her decision, and her parents accepted that.

There were some small bedrooms on the Seattle, and it didn’t take long to get all of her clothes moved into there. It wasn’t like much of it still fit her, anyway. Shams and Rian had decided that it was probably best to start the job at the same time as Ari, so they spent that week just showing her around the ship, Rian trying to teach her about the basic maintenance.

Ari ended up being just as relaxed around Lea’s new form as the rest of the crew, and then they were off, delivering packages throughout the cosmos. 

Throughout the summer and into the fall, Lea got used to her new life. The stares stopped bothering her as much, and the people she met were a lot like Shams: they never asked for any more than she was willing to give. 

She started to hang out with Ari more and more, both of them trying to get used to their new lives. Ze had always intended to do something like this, but that didn’t make the transition any less difficult. 

Ari was nice in a way Lea hadn’t expected. Ze always knew when the right time was to try and make her laugh, when to give her space. The first time she put on a crop top since the curse, ze smiled, and complimented her. It was completely sincere.

Ari and Lea started to spend nights together, days together. Lea would be doing research, trying to learn more about the next place they were going, the people she and Shams would be making a deal with. 

(Shams had seen the way that her wife was teaching Ari and figured that when she retired, she might as well ask Lea to take over the business. Lea could be charming. Her sincere curiosity made people like her, and she always outlined her points clearly, showing that the prices they asked really were fair. In another life, Shams thought that Lea could have been a lawyer.)

She would sit there, watching Ari do hir work, charging the systems with hir magic. She saw the way ze smiled after a job well done. That night, she kept moving closer and closer to hir during the movie, and ze just laid hir head on her shoulder.

She knew that ze would be fine with the fact that she was ace: ze had mentioned an ex before, having broken up with him because neither of them wanted to do long distance. And she was- she was mostly fine with her new existence. She just didn’t know if ze liked her back in the same way.

Ze was recharging the engine again when the truth came out. Lea was sitting against the wall, sketching hir. Trying to get hir delighted expression just right. Ari finished hir job and walked over to where Lea was sitting.

“Would you be cool with me seeing what you’re drawing?”

Lea smiled. She loved how considerate ze was with the small things. She took a deep breath and flipped the sketchbook around.

Ari’s fingers almost skimmed the page. Ze stayed silent, drinking in the drawing, and Lea blushed. This wasn’t like her normal art. This was personal.

Ari stared up at her, looking bashful. “Do you like me?”

Lea nodded, staring at Ari’s face, trying to judge hir reaction. Ze smiled. “Good. I like you too.”

“I was afraid to tell you. My last relationship… my ex. She’s the one who cursed me. I came out to her and she thought that I’d betrayed her for not being honest. I just thought you should know that.” Lea waved one scaly hand at her body. “This isn’t ever going to change.”

Ari held out hir hand and Lea took it, threading their fingers together. “No matter what, I’ll still love you, Lea.”

Lea bit her lip, not sure of what to do. Ari scooted closer, pressing hirself against Lea. “Do you want to kiss me?”

“If you want to.”

“I really want to.”

The kiss was short. Sweet. Relatively chaste. But it was everything that Lea had ever wanted. For some reason, it felt like the butterflies in her stomach were transforming into fireworks, lighting up her world.

She opened her eyes, and she was still a Beast. And she knew that love wasn’t going to change that. Ally’s idea of love had been too narrow. Too limited by her own experience. Lea was a Beast, and she was in love, and that was okay. She had found someone who loved her for who she was. She loved herself for who she was.

She grabbed Ari’s hand, kissing hir cheek. “Let’s go back upstairs. Bet you that Rian is going to cry.”

Ari smiled. “Are you kidding? I think this will make Shams cry.”

In that moment, Lea realized that this was her fairytale ending.


End file.
